In the 1790s, George Shaw faced something of a mystery. As a keeper of the natural history department of the British Museum (which later became the Natural History Museum), Shaw had already spent some time examining samples of exotic wildlife coming from the newly colonized and largely unexplored continent of Australia.But around 1799, Shaw was presented with a pelt and a drawing of an Australian creature that seemed to be too exotic. Its physical features were so astonishing, he and others init ...read more
Animals can suffer from many of the same mental illnesses that humans do, such as anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But there’s one mental illness that, at least as far as we can tell, that animals don’t get: schizophrenia. Schizophrenia and Animals Admittedly, it would be difficult to know if an animal were suffering from schizophrenia. The National Library of Medicine describes the symptoms of schizophrenia as including hall ...read more
The creatures of the open ocean are often flashy, in both an abstract and literal sense, thanks to the flickering luminosity of many marine organisms. But maybe more fantastic than glittering squid and glowing, frilled fish are a group of animals that resemble nothing more than globs of gelatin or tangles of twine. Drifting through the mysterious depths of the water, siphonophores reach surprising lengths, and rule as some of the longest animals in the world.[embedded content]What Are Siphonopho ...read more
Elephant seals don’t need a hypnotist to spiral them deep into sleep: New research reveals that these marine mammals take deep, spiraling dives to catch a few short power naps every day while on long ocean voyages — so few that they might be the recorder-holders for sleep deprivation among mammals during these periods.“That’s pretty much unparalleled compared to any other mammal,” says Jessica Kendall-Bar, a marine biologist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the Universit ...read more
Memes galore centered on the “orca revolution” have inundated the online realm. They gleefully depict orcas launching attacks on boats in the Strait of Gibraltar and off the Shetland coast.One particularly ingenious image showcases an orca posed as a sickle crossed with a hammer. The cheeky caption reads, “Eat the rich,” a nod to the orcas’ penchant for sinking lavish yachts.A surfboard-snatching sea otter in Santa Cruz, California has also claimed the media spotlight. Headlines ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine